The Carpenter Job
by astracindel
Summary: The Leverage team are contacted about a stolen idol.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own no part of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Leverage. All characters belong to their respective creators, writers, producers...etc...No profit is being made by this work of fiction.

Rating: G...PG-13ish for language

Spoilers: Events from last season of Buffy

Author's Note: This is just a quick drabble I wrote. Would love to develop it out more...but beyond wanting to have a scene with Elliot and Xander sparring, not sure where I want this to go....well, slashy would be good...just no idea for getting there right now. Anyway...hope you enjoy. It's short and I don't know if I'll be adding to it at this time. Right now, its not very likely.

**The Carpenter Job**

by AstraCindel

Nate looked at his gathered team, a small smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Alright people, we have a new case. The mark spent some time in Africa. While there he stole an idol that had belonged to one of the nomadic tribes for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. We've been contacted by a third party on behalf of the Ar'ghu'tin tribe to recover the idol. Apparently, it is very important to the religion of the tribe and they are all nearly suicidal with the idol being stolen. They believe they have been cursed," he gave a small shrug at that statement. "Hardison, run it."

"I don't know who this guy is, but finding information on him was nearly impossible. Every search ran into a firewall or sent out a virus to attack the searcher. Luckily, I am damn good," Hardison gave a cocky smile and put a picture on the screen.

The picture was of a young man, mid to late twenties, with shaggy black hair. He was wearing a tight white t-shirt and a faded pair of jeans. He was smiling crookedly as if laughing at the person taking the picture. What got everyone's attention however, was the patch covering the man's left eye; there were scars just visible around the patch to lend evidence that the patch wasn't for show. The eye that was visible was a warm chocolate brown and reflected the smile on the man's face. There was a sudden sharp intake of breath from one of the team members looking at the photo.

"Alexander Harris. Goes by Xander," Hardison began. "Last known address is in Cleveland. But this guy gets around. His passport has been hit in all over the planet; Asia, the Middle East, all over Europe, Africa and South America. Surprisingly, he's never been to Canada."

"Shut it down now!" Eliot Spencer stated fiercely. "What ever "web feelers", or whatever you call them, you have searching for him, stop them now!"

"Do you know this man, Eliot?" Sophie asked.

"Man, I've never seen you get spooked before. You didn't even flinch when the Butcher of Kiev showed up at the wedding job. What's this guy's story?"

"Eliot, what do you know about Mr. Harris?" Nate asked calmly.

Eliot shook his head. "I don't know Harris....Not personally," he added when Hardison started to open his mouth. "I know of Harris and those he works with. Had some run-ins with a few of them in the past, but not Harris. If he took that idol from them, then there was a damn good reason. And I mean GOOD. Whatever the deal is with that idol, we're on the wrong side of the deal if they want it back," he finished firmly. "I'm serious here. Stop all the searches and everything else on this guy before we get hit by some of his people."

"What's so bad about this guy?" Hardison scoffed, convinced that his work couldn't be tracked. "Again, I'm damn good. Nobody is gonna know who was doing the search. And even if they did, what's he gonna do? He looks like a goofy kid. Yeah, the eye patch is a bit creepy, but still."

Eliot was shaking his head vigorously. "Don't let his looks fool you. Trust me, he couldn't do what he's been doing for years without skills. And you're not good enough not to get caught by his people." Hardison scoffed at this. "I'm serious man. If we're lucky, and I do mean lucky, we just have to worry about a 5'2" blond showing up and kicking all our asses. Or maybe some one showing up and just making us forget we ever heard of Xander Harris."

"You make this guy sound like he's part of some all powerful secret organization. What will happen if we aren't lucky?" Sophie asked, beginning to look nervous. Parker was nodding in agreement with Sophie, Eliot's paranoia making her twitchy too. Nate and Hardison were still looking unconvinced of the immediate danger Eliot was implying they were in.

"If were not lucky....then we'll have a 5'2" redhead show up and....well, you don't want to know what the redhead can do...."

"Or I may just show up myself to see why a bunch of cons are searching for me." A new voice said from behind the group. "I haven't been pinged this hard since I saved some cute archaeologist when I was in Colorado Springs a few years ago."

The team whirled around to stare at the newcomer in shock. There, in their office, was none other than Xander Harris. He was giving them the same crooked smile as in the picture, his visible eye clearly shining in amusement. He was standing with one shoulder leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. For all of his casualness, there was no mistaking the tension in his shoulders showing he was ready to defend himself if needed.

"Shit," was Eliot's muffled response, but clearly heard by everyone in the room. Xander gave the man a wicked smirk.

"Oh, I have a few things to discuss with you Mr. Mac....Spencer. A mutual friend has been beating himself up for years over the way things were left between the two of you," Xander finished with a not so subtle growl.

"Lorne," Eliot paled and fell into the nearest seat available. "I thought he....."

Xander held up a hand to stop him. "Not. His. Idea. He's not been the same since. That went against everything he stood for, and he's not forgiven himself. But, we have other things to discuss first."

Xander reached into his pocket. Everyone tensed at the possible threat, except Eliot. Eliot sat in a fog, like his entire world was collapsing around him. Which, as things stood, it could very well be. Xander grinned and gave an amused snort at the reaction of everyone else in the room.

"Chill people. I'm just getting my phone," he said, waving said device where everyone could see. "I have a few messages to deliver and I couldn't remember them all. Let's see. Sophie," Xander looked at the British woman, "you're brother would like a call."

Sophie paled and took a seat by Eliot. Eliot could be heard muttering "shit, shit, shit" over and over again. He focused his gaze on Xander, knowing that this was going to get....complicated.

Xander flashed another smirk at the man, knowing just what he was thinking. "No such thing as coincidence," he said meaningfully. "Alright, next. Hardison, SlayersWitch says almost impressed. Parker, everything is five-by-five, and Mr. Ford...I am NOT giving you that message," Xander said, without ever looking at the reactions of the other people in the room. He dialed a number on his phone. "No way in hell....I am not giving that kind of message.....No... You should have told him years ago....I don't care! It's not right. Do you know what some of the rest of us would give to have this? I'm giving him the phone now." Xander walked over to Nate and handed him the phone. "For you."

Nate took the phone carefully. He stared at the strange young man for a moment before putting the phone to his ear. "This is Nathan Ford....Andrew?" Nate gasped and found the final available seat in the room. The rest of the team having taken a seat with each "message" that was given to them. "How?...Why didn't you get in contact before now?" Nate stood and walked out of the room to take the call in private.

Eliot looked questioningly at Xander. Xander shrugged and said, "Long over due family thing. His nephew didn't let him know he made it out alive. When I get my hands on that little geek...trying to get me to deliver that kind of message. We would give anything to still have family to contact after everything," he finished, mumbling to himself.

"Nate has a nephew?" Parker asked, coming out of the momentary shock her message had caused. Sophie was still pale and Hardison looked like he didn't know whether to be in awe or scared out of his mind. Scared out of his mind was winning more often than not.

"It's not my place to say anymore," Xander answered softly. "It's his family. If he wants you to know he can tell you. I'm not here to step on any toes. Just get some information. Why were you searching for me?"

Sophie snapped out of her shock at the question. "We were contacted by a Selena Rawlings to "recover" an idol you stole from the Ar'ghu'tin tribe. She said she is studying the nomadic tribes and when she encountered the Ar'ghu'tin, they were all suicidal, saying they had been cursed. She got them to tell her about you taking the idol and she contacted us to get it back for them. How do you know my brother?" Sophie suddenly gasped. "Oh my god, you're XANDER."

Xander gave her a sympathetic smile. "Again, no such thing a coincidence. And, if someone is wanting you to retrieve that idol, I can guarantee it's not for the Ar'ghu'tin tribe. And whatever intentions they have with the idol, its not good."

"Why do you keep saying there is no such thing as coincidence?" Hardison asked. "Sure, it's freaky that you know THE best hacker on the planet, but still."

"I thought she was dead," Parker whispered.

Xander gave her a sad smile. "She's alive and well. Had to knock her out to keep her from coming with me. Which means she should be here in about an hour or so." Parker beamed at him. Xander turned his attention to Eliot. "You know damn well there are no coincidences in this world. What the hell have you been thinking? All this," Xander waved his hand to include everyone in the room, "it all has connections back to our world. There is no walking away. You may get a reprieve, but eventually its gonna come back and bite you in the ass; and it's going to take everyone around you. You're damn lucky it crossed you into us. What kind of big bad have you gotten the attention of?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So..finally got bit by the bunny for another snippet for this. It's been a long time since I wrote the first part. Don't know when/if there will be more. This seems to want to write itself with quick spurts, then long dry spells. Sorry.

**Two**

Xander looked around the room at the Leverage team. Parker was off in one corner babbling happily at Faith on her cell. The dark slayer was so gonna kick his ass once she got transport, but maybe getting to talk to her childhood friend would save him a little. Sophie was in another corner speaking with her brother. Xander could just catch a word every few seconds. He could tell by the tone that Giles was giving his sister a very Giles dressing down. Xander swore he could hear the glasses being polished. Hardison was busy typing away at his computer, seems Willow had hacked his personal computer and they were now geeking out together. Nate still had not come from the other room where he was speaking with Andrew.

"Spencer," Xander said, getting the attention of the man across from him. Eliot still looked a bit shell shocked. Xander couldn't help an amused smirk. The stories he'd heard from Faith and the survivors from LA didn't match the man sitting in front of him.

"Yeah?" Eliot asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You did good with the new life," Xander began.

"Not good enough, obviously," Eliot snorted.

"No, you did really good. The new life is solid. We wouldn't have had a clue if Spike hadn't been in for some down time and spotted your picture while Willow was doing her thing on Hardison. Then the others came in, recognized more, and next thing ya know..."

"Lots of connections and now you're here. Surprised Spike didn't come to take me out."

"Nah. We'd already done the background on Eliot Spencer before he spotted you. You've done good since then. And the last couple of years show you can change. Love the Robin Hood thing you guys have going on. And, well, we'd all be a big ol' bunch of hypocrites if we just assumed you hadn't changed at all. We've all had our time on the dark side."

"I can't imagine the holier-than-thou Angel being on board with that. He'd be the first demanding my head," Eliot drawled. He gave a surprised start when Xander began laughing.

"Oh man. You didn't bother to find out what happened did you?" Xander asked between chuckles.

Eliot shrugged. "We're still here and not overrun with demons. Assumed Angel and his merry band had won. The LA office was destroyed and my contract with it. Soon as I was healed enough, created the new life and have been getting paid to beat people and get back whatever the person paying me wants."

"Uh huh. You've done more than that. But, we'll let you stay Mr. Badass. From what I was told, you hated Deadboy more than me. Don't you want to know what happened to him?"

"Deadboy...I like that," Eliot chuckled, then shrugged. "Saved the world again. Don't tell me he got his Sanshu."

"Oh, he Sanshued alright," Xander said with a wicked smirk.

Eliot cocked his head. "That's just great. He gets his reward and gets to live happily ever after. Couldn't have happened to a better asshole."

"Oh I like you," Xander laughed. "Yeah, Deadboy got his Sanshu and now he's a real boy. How much do you know about him before becoming dead and what the Sanshu does?"

"Wasn't real concerned with what he was before he got vamped," Eliot started. "Knew he was from Ireland, son of a land owner, that meant he would have had a fairly easy life at that time. The human didn't matter to us though, so not a lot was really looked for. As far as the Sanshu...it was a prophecy that a vampire would get to be human again..not much more to it."

"Oh you're gonna love this," Xander said with a wicked smirk. "Let's start with Liam...Angel pre-death...Yeah, he had an easy life with who his father was. Liam was also a lazy, drunken, man-whore. Now, the Sanshu...it made Angel human again, to give the soul a chance to live its life. Part of that means the soul gets to start over..."

"No way...Saint Angel..." Eliot began, his eyes crinkling with suppressed mirth.

"Oh yeah...Deadboy started going back to being Liam. It didn't happen all at once. He started making excuses not to help with patrol...he couldn't remember the languages for research anymore...Giles was constantly yelling at him to stay out of his stash..." Xander trailed off.

"Oh, he did something," Eliot set up excitedly. "What did he do?"

"Well, Buffy was all happy to have her honey all warm-bodied, and turned a blind eye to pretty much everything he was doing. She kept making excuses that he just needed time to adjust. That is, until she caught him trying to get a fourteen year old mini-slayer in bed."

"Did she castrated him?" Eliot asked, disgust clearly in his voice.

"Better. He's now stationed at a Watcher house in the northern most part of Siberia. The house was set up as a fall-back/safe house. Nothing ever goes on up that way, its too cold for the demons. So he's in this house 100 miles from the nearest village. Supply drops are made once a month by Willow-gram...food and necessities only. No electric and the only other person that ever goes there is a 55 year old guy that looks more like a bear than a human."

Eliot began to cackle, getting the attention of the others in the room. Sophie had ended her conversation with Giles and was coming over to them.

"What's so funny?"

"Harris was just telling me what had happened to a mutual acquaintance of ours," Eliot said, still chuckling. "It couldn't have happened to a better guy."

"Angel," Xander answered Sophie's questioning look.

"Ah, I've heard of him. You'll have to tell me about it later." Hardison, Parker and Nate had joined them. "For now though, I believe we need to figure out what to do from here."

"I agree," Nate began. "But, first. My nephew had some very interesting information. Are there some things you want to tell us Eliot?"

"Damn Andrew's big mouth," Xander muttered.

"What's going on Eliot?" Parker asked.

"You got some kind of secert identity?" Hardison joked. Eliot gave him a hard stare. "Damn, you have some kind of secret identity."

"Eliot?" Sophie questioned.

"Dammit! I didn't want to do this. I left that life behind. I started over. I like the life I have now," Eliot snarled.

"Ah, he loves us," Hardison cooed.

"Hardison," Nate snapped.

"Dude, they're your friends...family. They'll...well probably not understand...but I don't think they'll turn on you," Xander offered.

Eliot looked at the expectant faces of his friends and sighed, shoulders dropping in defeat. "I've not always been Eliot Spencer, Retrieval Specialist. Actually, Eliot has only been "alive" a few years..."

"But, you're a legend in our circles. There's stories of you over a decade old," Parker started to protest.

"I'll explain all of that in a few minutes Parker. Until a few years ago I was known as Lindsey MacDonald..."

"Lindsey...what a girly..." Hardison snorted, then gulped seeing the hard look sent his way by everyone in the room. "Right...Lindsey...go on."

"I was a lawyer for Wolfram and Hart..."

"Oh Eliot, no." Sophie.

"No way." Parker.

"Dude, no. There's not a word to describe how bad those people are." Hardison.

Eliot let all of the comments wash over him. His entire focus was on Nate.

"The insurance company used them to threaten me while my son was sick."

"I'm sorry man. Wolfram and Hart did a lot of evil. I did a lot of evil. But I'm not that same guy anymore. I've worked damn hard to be Eliot."

"He's right you know." All attention snapped to Xander. They had nearly forgotten he was even there. "I heard lots of stories of Lindsey, from people that he had gone up against,when we realized who was hacking me. But we were able to see everything he's done since Wolfram and Hart in LA went down. My group, we know evil. We've all walked the evil side at least once. Lindsey was a minor evil, but a savable one. He wouldn't let a bunch of kids die when his bosses ordered it. Eliot is bad, but a good bad. He's done a lot of good that he's tried not to have noticed...but well...we have contacts..."

"And just who is your group, Mr. Harris?" Nate asked with a hard stare. "My nephew was surprisingly reluctant to tell me who he was with. Andrew has never been able to keep things to himself. So, I have to wonder what people could possibly have that would keep him from talking."

"Xander isn't a bad guy, Nate," Sophie said, placing her hand on top of his.

"How do you know that?" he demanded.

"Because her bother is my boss...Andrew's boss," Xander answered. "Let me properly introduce myself. Field Agent Xander Harris, International Watcher's Council, Head Watcher for the African Slayers."

"Ho...ly...fu..."Hardison paled.

"What does that mean? I've heard of those guys but that's all...they're like whispers that you never really understand," Parker looked at the other people in the room.

"It means X has an army of kick-ass chicks at his back if anyone tries for him," a new voice answered.

"What are you doing here, Faith?"

"Nice to see you too boy-toy. And I am so gonna kick your ass for that stunt you pulled earlier. You don't go anywhere without back-up. If one of your girls had pulled that you would have them on punishment for a year," she huffed.

"Yeah, well, that's one of the perks of being the boss..."

Faith snorted. "Uh huh. Ya forgot Red and B..."

Xander paled a little. "Right. Ass-kicking for the Xan-man. Got it. Now why else are you here?"

"Right. Red got some more info on that Selena Rawlings after chattin' with computer boy over there. She wanted to make sure you had the kind of back up you're gonna need."

"Damn. What did she find out?"

Faith turned her attention to Eliot. "Seems Rawlings is the next big up and comer in the New York branch of Wolfram and Hart."


End file.
